1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an icemaker for a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an icemaker for a refrigerator, which can quickly separate pieces of ice therefrom by uniformly heating a surface where the pieces of ice contact an ice mold.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a refrigerator according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a refrigerator comprises a barrier 1 for dividing an inner space into a chilling compartment and a freezing compartment, a main body 2 in which a cooling cycle device for maintaining the chilling and freezing compartments at a low temperature is installed, a freezing door 4 pivotally mounted on the main body 2 to open and close the freezing compartment, and a chilling door 6 pivotally mounted on the main body 2 to open and close the chilling compartment.
The cooling cycle device applied to the refrigerator includes a compressor (not shown) for compressing low temperature/low pressure gas refrigerant, a condenser (not shown) for condensing the compressed refrigerant, an expanding device for reducing pressure of the condensed refrigerant, and a vaporizer for vaporizing the expanded refrigerant while absorbing heat of the chilling and freezing compartments.
In recent years, an automatic machine for making pieces of ice using cold air in the freezing compartment and dispensing the pieces of ice has been employed for user's convenience.
The automatic ice machine includes an icemaker 7 for freezing water fed thereto and an ice bank 20 for storing pieces of ice separated from the icemaker 7, a dispenser 300 installed on the freezing door 4 to allow the pieces of ice to be dispensed even without opening the freezing door 4, and an ice chute 40 for directing the pieces of ice from the ice bank 20 to the dispense 30.
When the water is fed to the icemaker 7, the water is frozen by the cool air in the freezing compartment. When the water is frozen, the pieces of ice are separated from the icemaker 7. Therefore, there are a couple of technical requirements for (a) feeding a proper amount of water to the icemaker so as for the water not to overflow the icemaker, (b) feeding a proper cool air to quickly freeze the water, (c) easily separating the ice from the icemaker, and (d) easily directing the pieces of ice to the ice bank 20.
Among the technical requirements, the separation of the ice from the icemaker by applying appropriate heat has been particularly developed. For example, a heating wire is arranged on an outer surface of the icemaker in a predetermined pattern where lines are spaced away from each other at a predetermined distance. When power is applied to the heating wire, the heating wire generates Joule heat to melt a portion of ice at a portion where the ice contacts the icemaker so that the ice can be effectively separated from the icemaker. U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,091 assigned to the applicant of this invention discloses such an icemaker with the heating wire.
However, the method for separating the ice from the icemaker by using the joule heat generated by the heating wire has a couple of drawbacks as follows:
1. Since the lines of the wire are spaced away from each other, the heat is not uniformly applied to an entire surface where the icemaker contacts the ice. Therefore, a large amount of heat must be applied to separate the ice from the icemaker, increasing the power consumption as well as the ice making time.
2. Since the heat is locally applied, the shape of the pieces of ice is not identical.